


Buying Time

by HighKingMargo



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Speculation, They're messy self-sacrificing idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 07:25:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18361364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighKingMargo/pseuds/HighKingMargo
Summary: A drabble based on the 4x12 teaser trailer: After spending too much time in the Poison Room, Kady comes up with one final way to help.





	Buying Time

“It’s our best shot right now.” Kady sat in the apartment living room in front of Penny23. This conversation wasn’t supposed to be a hard one. “I can distract them long enough for you guys to use the axes and trap them. There’s nothing they can do to me that won’t happen in the next few weeks anyway. You’ll get Julia and Eliot back. What part of that sounds bad?”

“The part where you’re dead.”

Kady sighed and looked up at the ceiling. She was so used to Penny worrying about her, sacrificing for her, that she could almost forget this wasn’t _her_ Penny. “Yeah, sucks, but there’s nothing we can do about that. So let me help.”

Penny paced for a few moments, then pulled a chair around and sat across from her. “There’s got to be some way to save you,” he said. “Just go, have the Librarian lady hide you in the Neitherlands until we can find a cure. It’s in her best interest, too. We can find a safer way to do this.”

“Do you have any idea how hard I looked for a cure?” Kady said. “Penny—my Penny—died when a demon tried to take it out of him, and that was the last shred of hope I had. And if anything happens to Julia…” Kady shook her head. “I can’t sit on my ass in the Neitherlands while this is happening to her again. I can’t.”

“I know she would want you to be safe,” Penny said. “So would your Penny. Not just because I’m him; I met the bastard and I could tell he’d do anything for you.”

“But you’re not him.” Kady stared him evenly in the eyes. “So why do you care?”

“I just do, all right? Am I not allowed to care about the people here?” Penny sighed. “I know you now,” he said. “You’re not just some faceless name another me had a thing with. You’re my friend, and I don’t want to lose another one.”

This wasn’t supposed to be a hard conversation, Kady thought again, fighting back the tears welling up in her eyes. “You care about Julia,” she said. “This Julia. You love her as much as I do, so you know damn well this is what you would do in my place.”

Penny nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “I would.”

“Yeah.”

Silence filled the room for several long seconds, then Penny said, “I’ve seen the way Julia looks at you. She might like me, I don’t know, but…She loves you, too, is what I’m saying. If you’re gone when she comes back, if she doesn’t even get to say goodbye…”

Kady’s chest tightened. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t thought more than once about how, if the monsters killed her in this mission, she’d never see Julia again. Of course it hurt. Of course it would hurt Julia. But if she lived through the Poison Room’s aftereffects and something went wrong, if she had to survive just to live in a world without her Penny _and_ her Julia, she didn’t know if she could handle it. At least, if the plan succeeded, Julia would have this Penny. She’d have Quentin. She’d have goddesshood, if that was what she wanted. She wouldn’t be alone.

“She’ll be okay,” Kady said eventually.

“I can’t convince you to back down on this, can I?”

“No.” She glanced up at him. “But I’ll try not to get killed if that helps at all.”

“Good,” Penny said. “I’m not gonna be the bearer of ‘the dead person loves you’ news again. So make sure you’re here to tell her yourself.”

“Thanks, Penny.” Kady reached out to squeeze his hand once, then got up. She’d need rest before they could tackle this. It was already hard to stand, hard to focus, hard to breathe. She could do this, though. All they needed was a few seconds. She could buy them that.

 

 


End file.
